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Male Players - Australia


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Portrait of Bill O'Reilly

William Joseph O'Reilly

Born: 20 December 1905, White Cliffs, New South Wales
Died: 6 October 1992, Sutherland, Sydney, New South Wales
Major Teams: New South Wales, Australia.
Known As: Bill O'Reilly
Batting Style: Left Hand Bat
Bowling Style: Leg Break Googly


Test Debut: Australia v South Africa at Adelaide, 4th Test, 1931/32
Last Test:
Australia v New Zealand at Wellington, Only Test, 1945/46

Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1935

Career Statistics:

TESTS
 (career)
                      M    I  NO  Runs   HS     Ave 100  50   Ct  St
Batting & Fielding   27   39   7   410   56*  12.81   0   1    7   0

                    Balls    M     R    W    Ave   BBI    5  10    SR  Econ
Bowling             10024  585  3254  144  22.59  7-54   11   3  69.6  1.94

FIRST-CLASS
 (career: 1927/28 - 1945/46)
                      M    I  NO  Runs   HS     Ave 100  50   Ct  St
Batting & Fielding  135  167  41  1655   56*  13.13   0   1   65   0

                       R    W    Ave   BBI    5  10
Bowling            12850  774  16.60  9-38   63  17

- Explanations of First-Class and List A status courtesy of the ACS.


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By any measure, Bill 'Tiger' O'Reilly exerted a profound effect over Australian cricket. From the time that he began playing the game until he penned his last word about the sport shortly before his death, he was an enormously influential and respected figure.

As a first-class player, O'Reilly graced the cricketing stage over a period which spanned 18 seasons. In this time, he proved himself to be the complete wrist spinner. He bowled at close to medium pace yet delivered leg breaks, googlies, top spinners and intermittent off breaks with unerring accuracy and deception. Throughout this period, there were few batsmen who proved themselves capable of conquering either his raw aggression or the wicked spin and bounce that he conceived from his low action. No less an authority than Sir Donald Bradman rated him as the finest bowler that he had ever witnessed.

During a glittering career, O'Reilly snared a total of 774 first-class wickets at the incredible average of 16.6. No less spectacularly, 144 of these scalps came his way in his 27 Tests at the rate of 22.6 runs apiece. Yet remarkably, O'Reilly's prowess was essentially self-taught; his father was a schoolteacher who moved to different postings on a regular basis and the young leg spinner therefore received no coaching of any note in his formative years. Even in later times (as he progressed from matches in country New South Wales through to Sydney grade cricket, the New South Wales state side in 1927-28, and then the Test team itself in 1931-32), the ferociously combative and brilliantly skilful approach that he brought to his cricket remained a distinctly self-made combination.

Immediately upon his retirement as a player, O'Reilly's abiding interest in, and shrewd acumen for, the game found new expression in a role as a cricket columnist. As a sidelight to several other forms of employment, he occupied a position as a cricket correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald until 1988. Around a series of debilitating illnesses, O'Reilly still found time to express his views in more irregular commentaries on various aspects of the game until shortly before his widely mourned passing in 1992.

In recognition of his outstanding contribution to the sport, O'Reilly was posthumously chosen as one of the inaugural members of the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame. He was also selected in the Australian Cricket Board's official Test Team of the 20th Century. (John Polack)

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